Working with Scotland’s Communities
A survey of who does community learning
and development
August 2015
Education Scotland
The CLD Standards Council for Scotland
The Scottish Community Development Centre
WEA Scotland
YouthLink Scotland
Learning Link Scotland
2 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
Contents
Contents
3
Executive Summary
5
1. Background
5
2. Methodology and limitations
5
3. Profile of CLD organisations
6
4. The paid workforce
6
5. The paid workforce – qualifications, training and professional
7
development
7
6. Volunteer workers in CLD roles
8
7. Recommendations
8
List of acronyms
10
Acknowledgements
10
1. Introduction
12
2.
15
3.
Methodology and limitations
2.1
Methodology
15
2.2
Data cleaning and analysis
17
2.3
Limitations
18
2.4
Structure of the report
18
Findings: Profile of organisations
20
3.1
Introduction
20
3.2
Organisational groupings
21
3.3
Organisations – geographical spread
22
3.4
Organisations – main focus of work
23
3.5
Organisations – groups worked with
26
3.6
Response to Statutory CLD Regulations
26
4. Findings: Paid Community Learning and Development Staff
28
4.1
Introduction
28
4.2
Paid staff – overall numbers
29
4.3
Paid staff – distribution (by organisational grouping)
29
4.4
Paid staff – roles
30
4.5
Paid staff – hours worked
31
4.6
Paid staff – perceived change in numbers
32
5. Findings: Training and Professional Development for Paid Staff
5.1
Introduction
3 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
36
36
5.2
Paid staff – qualifications
37
5.3 Paid staff – identification and evaluation of training and/or professional development
needs37
5.4
Paid staff – training and/or professional development supported
37
5.5
Paid staff – meeting training and/or professional development needs
38
5.6
Paid staff – training and/or professional development priorities
40
5.7
Paid staff – funding sources for training and/or professional development
40
5.8
Change in training and/or professional development budgets
41
5.9
Use of Glow and i-develop
43
6. Findings: Volunteers
45
6.1
Introduction
45
6.2
Volunteers – overall numbers
45
6.3
Volunteers – work carried out
46
6.4
Volunteers – perceived change in numbers
47
7. Conclusions and recommendations
49
7.1
About the study
49
7.2
About the organisations and services who took part in the study
49
7.3
About the CLD workforce
50
7.4
About professional development and training
51
7.5
Recommendations
52
Appendices
55
Appendix 1: Questionnaire
55
Appendix 2: Survey Guidance
67
Appendix 3: Organisational groupings
77
Appendix 4: Professional learning priorities – Word Cloud
78
4 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
Executive Summary
1.
Background
This is a summary report of a study undertaken in 2015 by Education Scotland and some of its
key national partners to gather information about the paid and unpaid staff that support
community learning and development work in Scotland.
Community learning and development (CLD) is used in Scotland to describe a wide range of
informal learning and development activity with individuals and groups of all ages in their
communities. This work is supported by a diverse range of paid and unpaid staff in
organisations in the public and third sectors. These workers have a range of different job roles
and job titles. What they have in common is a distinct set of practices underpinned by CLD
competences, professional standards and values, and a shared focus.
The Scottish Government has outlined the focus of community learning and development as
being:
1. Improved life chances for people of all ages, through learning, personal development and
active citizenship, and
2. Stronger, more resilient supportive, influential and inclusive communities1.
In recent years increasing importance has been placed on the contribution of CLD to a range of
national and local policy areas in Scotland. At the same time as this policy focus has been
developed there have been concerns that CLD provision may have been disproportionately
affected by constraints on public spending. These factors have reinforced the need to have
better national information about the workforce that supports CLD activity across the country.
As a result, in late 2014, organisations working in CLD in Scotland started planning a project to
gather data on the CLD workforce. This partnership project involved: Education Scotland; CLD
Standards Council for Scotland; Scottish Community Development Centre; WEA Scotland,
Learning Link Scotland and YouthLink Scotland.
2.
Methodology and limitations
The choice of methodology for this project was driven by the diverse nature of the CLD sector.
Identifying all of the organisations and services to be targeted was not straightforward. This is
partly due to the fact that CLD work involves a shared set of approaches and practices.
Therefore, there is a reliance on self-identification with the sector and, as a result, there is no
single governing body or list of organisations doing CLD work. Distribution of the survey was
achieved through the networks already built by partners, aiming to get the widest range of
organisations.
The chosen approach for the project was an online self-completion
questionnaire, to be completed by organisations doing CLD work. The questions can be found
in Appendix 1. After the completion of the survey, data was cleaned by the Education Scotland
Analytical Services Team and analysed with partners, who highlighted the most important areas
1
Scottish Government (2012). Strategic Guidance for Community Planning
Partnerships: Community Learning and Development
5 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
of analysis for the CLD sector. We cannot say that the findings from this survey represent every
organisation doing CLD work in Scotland however it did provide data from a much wider range
of organisations than previous similar surveys. We are confident that the results are reliable
and that the CLD workforce is at least as large as the numbers reported and likely to be larger.
3.
Profile of CLD organisations
The survey results show that there is a diverse range of organisations and services with paid
staff and/or volunteers in CLD roles across Scotland. The findings also show that CLD staff are
working with a diverse range of individuals and groups in their communities.
A total of 308 organisations provided information about their work. Of these organisations, 62%
(191) were classified as third sector organisations, 24% (74) as local authority services and
14% (43) as ‘other’ kinds of organisations doing CLD work (e.g. health boards). These
organisations reported that they were carrying out and supporting CLD activity across Scotland,
including in every local authority area. These organisations work with a wide range of groups,
with the largest number working with community groups and organisations, young people and
volunteers.
Overall, these organisations reported working in a range of broad areas of CLD activity – 25%
(76) in youth work, 23% (70) in community capacity building and/or community development
and 8% (25) of organisations in adult learning. 27% (83) of organisations reported that they
focused on all of these areas of activity, while 18% (54) reported that they had an ‘other’ focus.
Local authority services were more likely to have a focus on all of these areas of CLD activity,
whereas third sector organisations tended to report having a more specific focus on particular
areas of work such as youth work or community capacity building.
48% (102) of organisations are currently involved in work relating to the Statutory Regulations
for Community Learning and Development (Scotland), however this varied according to what
kind of organisation they were. 74% (40) of local authority services are currently involved in
work relating to the Regulations.
4.
The paid workforce
A total of 245 organisations went on to give overall workforce totals for their paid staff in the
survey. These organisations reported that they had 6,899 paid staff working in CLD roles in
responding organisations in the week beginning 23rd February 2015. A further 583 paid staff in
CLD roles in these organisations were not working that same week, e.g. because they were
working in sessional or seasonal roles. This indicates that there are at least 7,482 paid staff in
CLD roles in Scotland. Given that 63 organisations responded to the survey yet did not provide
information on the numbers in their workforce, it is apparent that this is an underestimate of the
CLD workforce.
64% of these staff were employed by local authority services, 28% were employed by third
sector organisations and 7% were employed by ‘other’ kinds of organisations doing CLD work.
Nearly three quarters of staff (73%) are involved in front-line provision. Similar proportions of
paid staff were working up to 17.5 hours (43%; 2938) and in what would be considered as full-
6 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
time posts (35 hours or above) (38%; 2644).
between 17.5 hours and 34 hours a week.
Fewer paid staff (16%; 1126) were working
The general perception of respondents was that the workforce had grown slightly over the past
five years, however the survey did not provide data on the volume of these changes so it cannot
be assumed that this indicates a change in the total workforce number. There was a contrast
between the majority of responses from local authorities – who employ around two thirds of the
paid CLD workforce – which indicated a decline in staff numbers and the majority of third sector
and others who perceived an increase. Clearly there has been significant movement within the
sector which has affected organisations in different sectors in contrasting ways but this finding
demands further investigation. Finally, the survey emphasises that the vast majority of CLD staff
are working directly with individuals and communities.
5.
The paid workforce – qualifications, training and professional
development
A total of 214 organisations gave information about their qualifications, training and professional
development priorities for their paid staff. 60% of these organisations require both CLD
managers and staff working directly with communities to hold a CLD specific qualification.
Organisations reported supporting a wide range of training and professional development
opportunities for their staff. The most common reported types of training and/or professional
development were attendance at external courses and conferences and in-house courses, while
those least reported were online learning, shadowing/internships, further education courses and
action learning sets.
The survey suggests several clear priority areas for national CPD programmes. This is an area
to explore further with the workforce. Training and professional development priorities were
wide ranging. The most frequently reported areas were: evaluation and quality improvement;
funding and finance; management skills – (projects, managing change); IT, digital learning and
social media; and accreditation and assessment. 69% of organisations reported that they would
be able to meet their training and/or professional development needs for the next 12 months.
Local authority services (35%; 19) were more likely to indicate that there were identified training
and/or professional development needs that they would not be able to address over the next 12
months, compared to third sector (27%; 37) and ‘other’ (13%; 3) organisations.
There is a wide range of professional development and/or training being accessed by paid CLD
staff and volunteers. Organisations appear to be funding training and professional development
primarily from their own core budgets. Funding from other sources (e.g. Scottish Government,
national external funding or local external funding) was accessed to support training and/or
professional development by around one fifth of the organisations that responded. Responses
suggest that core funding has decreased over the period 2009/10 – 2014/15. Clearly more work
needs to be done to raise the profile of online learning as a tool for continuing professional
development.
7 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
6.
Volunteer workers in CLD roles
The survey provides evidence of a wide range of voluntary CLD activity with individuals and
communities across Scotland. 142 organisations indicated that volunteer workers form part of
their workforce. From these organisations, there were 40,162 volunteers working in CLD roles
in the week beginning 23rd February 2015. There were also 4,175 volunteers in CLD roles who
were not working in the same week, e.g. because they are involved in sessional or seasonal
roles. Overall, these volunteers work 195,187 hours in a typical week which represents a huge
unpaid contribution of skills, knowledge and experience into Scotland’s communities.
The highest percentage of volunteers working in CLD roles was reported by third sector
organisations. Over four in every five volunteers work in face-to-face roles with learners or
communities. Overall, just over half of organisations thought there had been an increase in
volunteer numbers since 2009/10.
It is important to note that stimulating and supporting general voluntary activity is a central
feature of CLD practice. The findings suggest that support from paid CLD staff has an impact
on both the quality and quantity of voluntary activity that can be provided within a community.
7.
Recommendations
The findings from this survey have increased understanding of who does CLD in Scotland but it
has to be seen as one step in an ongoing process of dialogue and research with CLD
organisations and practitioners. Recommendations are given under the following three
headings:
Recommendation 1:
Raise awareness about the CLD workforce depicted in this study with policy makers, funders
and with the general public.
Recommendation 2:
The diverse make-up of the workforce should inform professional development and training at
all levels.
Recommendation 3:
Further research and dialogue with the CLD sector is now required to continue to develop our
understanding of the CLD workforce.
8 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
List of tables
Table 1: Survey completion pattern ........................................................................................... 20
Table 2: Paid staff – distribution of work during survey week (by organisational grouping) ....... 30
Table 3: Paid staff – reported CLD-specific qualifications (% of organisations) ........................ 37
Table 4: Paid staff – funding sources for training and/or professional development .................. 40
List of charts
Chart 1: Overall response (by organisational grouping) ............................................................. 22
Chart 2: Organisations - geographical spread............................................................................ 23
Chart 3: Organisations – main focus of work ............................................................................. 23
Chart 4: Local authority services – main focus of work .............................................................. 24
Chart 5: Third sector – main focus of work................................................................................. 25
Chart 6: Other organisations – main focus of work .................................................................... 25
Chart 7: Organisations – groups worked with ............................................................................ 26
Chart 8: Response rate – organisational information (by organisational grouping) .................... 29
Chart 9: Main focus of work – organisational information........................................................... 29
Chart 10: Paid staff – distribution (by organisational grouping) .................................................. 30
Chart 11: Paid staff – roles......................................................................................................... 31
Chart 12: Paid staff – contracted hours ...................................................................................... 32
Chart 13: Paid staff – perceived staffing change (all organisations) .......................................... 33
Chart 14: Paid staff – perceived staffing change (by organisational grouping) .......................... 33
Chart 15: Paid staff – training and/or professional development supported ............................... 38
Chart 16: Paid staff – meeting training and/or professional development needs ....................... 39
Chart 17: Paid staff – meeting training and/or professional development needs (by
organisational grouping)............................................................................................................. 39
Chart 18: Change in training and/or professional development budget ..................................... 41
Chart 19: Change in core training and/or professional development budget (by organisational
grouping) .................................................................................................................................... 42
Chart 20: Change in additional training and/or professional development budget (by
organisational grouping)............................................................................................................. 42
Chart 21: Volunteers – percentage active (by organisational grouping) ..................................... 46
Chart 22: Volunteers – work carried out ..................................................................................... 46
Chart 23: Volunteers – perceived change in numbers ............................................................... 47
Chart 24: Volunteers – perceived change in numbers (by organisational grouping) .................. 48
9 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning and
development.
List of acronyms
CLD
CCB
CPD
CPD
CLDMS
LA
PDA
SCDC
WEA
Community Learning and Development
Community Capacity Building
Continuing Professional Development
Continuing Professional Development
CLD Managers Scotland
Local Authority
Professional Development Award
The Scottish Community Development Centre
The Workers Educational Association
Acknowledgements
The partners involved would like to thank everyone who took part in this study – either in the
pilot phase in 2014 or in the main survey in 2015. More than 300 people took time out of
their busy schedules to provide invaluable information on behalf of their organisation or
service. The study would not have been possible without them so we are grateful for their
time and their helpful insights into what we know can be a complex area. We hope that
everyone who took part will find this report useful.
10 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
11 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
1.
Introduction
This is a summary report of a study undertaken in 2015 by Education Scotland and some of its
key national partners to gather information about the paid and unpaid staff that support
community learning and development work in Scotland.
The term ‘community learning and development’ (CLD) is used in Scotland to describe a wide
range of informal learning and development activity with individuals and groups of all ages in
their communities. This work is supported by a diverse range of paid and unpaid workers.
These staff work for organisations in the public and third sectors and have a range of different
job roles and job titles. What they have in common is a distinct set of practices underpinned by
CLD competences, professional standards and values, and a shared focus.
The Scottish Government has outlined the focus of community learning and development as
being:
1. Improved life chances for people of all ages, through learning, personal development and
active citizenship, and
2. Stronger, more resilient supportive, influential and inclusive communities 2.
In recent years increasing importance has been placed on the contribution of CLD to a range of
national and local policy areas. In 2013, the Scottish Government established new Statutory
Regulations which place requirements on every local authority to work with partners and
communities to plan and secure CLD in their area 3. In 2014, the Scottish Government and
YouthLink Scotland launched the National Youth Work Strategy 4 which aimed to improve the
life chances of young people in Scotland. It highlighted the importance of youth work and the
need to build workforce capacity. Also in 2014, Education Scotland’s ‘Adult Learning in
Scotland: Statement of Ambition’ 5 emphasised that empowered adults are the keystone to a
civic society, and that there was a need for a framework of professional development learning
opportunities available for practitioners involved in delivering adult learning.
This policy focus, alongside concerns that CLD provision may have been disproportionately
affected by constraints on public spending, emphasised the need to have better national
information about the workforce that supports CLD activity in communities across the country.
Three earlier surveys of the CLD workforce in Scotland had been carried out, one by Learning
Connections, Communities Scotland in 2007 6 and two by Lifelong Learning UK, in 2008 7
2
Scottish Government (2012). Strategic Guidance for Community Planning
Partnerships: Community Learning and Development
3
Scottish Government (2012). Strategic Guidance for Community Planning
Partnerships: Community Learning and Development
4
Scottish Government (2014). Our Ambitions for Improving the Life Chances of
Young People in Scotland - National Youth Work Strategy 2014-2019
5
Education Scotland (2014). Adult Learning in Scotland: Statement of Ambition
6
Learning Connections, Communities Scotland (2007). Community Learning and
Development Workforce Survey.
7
Lifelong Learning UK (2008). Profile of the community learning and development
workforce in Scotland 2008 (LLUK).
12 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
and 2010 8 . However, there were also concerns that there was a lack of comprehensive,
current data on the CLD workforce at both a national and a local level.
As a result, in late 2014, organisations working in CLD in Scotland started planning a project to
gather data on the CLD workforce in Scotland. This partnership project involved the following
organisations:
• Education Scotland;
• CLD Standards Council for Scotland;
• Scottish Community Development Centre;
• WEA Scotland and Learning Link Scotland and
• YouthLink Scotland.
This project is an attempt to provide a current picture of the CLD workforce which can be used
to inform policy and practice, and can also be built upon in the future to increase understanding
of CLD. This survey is the initial phase of the project and is aimed at the organisations and
services working in CLD rather than individuals.
8
Lifelong Learning UK (2010). Profile of the community learning and development
workforce in Scotland, 2010 (LLUK).
13 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
14 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
2.
Methodology and limitations
Chapter overview
•
•
•
•
•
2.1
The choice of methodology for this project was driven by the diverse nature of
the CLD sector. Identifying all of the organisations and services to be targeted
was not straightforward. This is partly due to the fact that CLD work involves a
shared set of approaches and practices. Therefore, unlike many other sectors
there is a reliance on self-identification with the sector and, as a result, there is
no single governing body or list of organisations doing CLD work.
The chosen approach for the project was an online self-completion survey of
organisations. Organisations were given one month to complete the information
about their workforce. The survey questions can be found in Appendix 1.
Distribution of the survey was achieved through the networks already built by
partners, aiming to get the widest range of organisations that were known to be
doing CLD work.
The survey design and questions were tested by partners and adapted during a
pilot phase in the autumn of 2014. The pilot phase also provided useful
feedback which could inform future research.
Although not all organisations doing CLD work in Scotland responded to the
survey, the achieved sample of 308 organisations was higher than any
previous survey of these organisations in Scotland.
Methodology
Discussion and piloting
The early stages of the project involved a discussion among partners about a range of ways of
collecting data on the CLD workforce in Scotland. For instance, partners explored whether it
would be more appropriate to survey organisations or individuals, and concluded that a survey
of organisations would be a useful first step. The rationale for this was that a survey of
organisations would gather data which would help to place responses from individuals doing
CLD work in context.
Partners then used a series of meetings to develop a draft set of key questions they had about
organisations doing CLD work. These covered organisational information, types of work
undertaken and information about professional development.
The Education Scotland
Analytical Services Team worked with partners to develop and revise these questions.
Before the main data gathering exercise, all partners then agreed to carry out a pilot phase.
The purpose of this pilot phase was to explore a number of issues. For instance, partners felt
that a self-completion survey would be the most effective way of gathering data relatively
quickly from organisations doing CLD work, however they wished to explore alternative options.
In addition, it was recognised that a number of providers or services may not identify
themselves with the term ‘community learning and development’ Partners also wished to test
the specific questions that had been developed, what terminology to use, what accompanying
guidance might be needed and what communication and support requirements there might be.
15 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Partners each committed to discussing the overall approach and testing the specific questions
in their own areas of work. Specific lessons learned from the pilots are discussed below.
Research population
Following the pilots, it was agreed that a non-probability sampling approach should be used,
meaning that a statistical approach to selecting a sample was not used. The pilots had
suggested that defining a research population from such a diverse group was not
straightforward because there was no agreed sample frame. This was due to challenges in
defining organisations doing CLD work – as CLD involves a shared set of approaches and
practices and therefore relies on a degree of self-identification with the sector. Also, because of
the nature of the sector’s work there is no centrally-held list or database of organisations doing
CLD work in Scotland in the same way that there is a formal list of schools or social workers.
Research design
The design which partners felt would be most appropriate was a quantitative cross sectional
approach, involving a self-completion questionnaire delivered via an online survey system. This
design was chosen as it would produce quantitative findings about organisations doing CLD
work at a particular point in time. The choice of the self-completion method was driven by
questions of practicality and time, as there was limited resource between partners to use other
data collection tools, e.g. interviews, given the expected size of the CLD sector in Scotland.
The pilots had explored other approaches (e.g. an intensive process of identifying organisations
doing CLD work within a defined geographical location) however it was agreed that there was
limited resource to adopt this approach across Scotland.
The questionnaire was designed to be completed by one individual on behalf of their
organisation or service. Respondents were asked to provide information about their work and
their workforce for a specific survey week (the week beginning 23rd February 2015). This
approach was chosen to ensure that the information provided was as consistent and
comparable as possible.
Questionnaire development
The Education Scotland Analytical Services Team worked with partners to develop the
questionnaire (see Appendix 1 for the complete set of questions). During the pilots, each
partner had tested an initial set of questions in their own sectors. The questionnaire was then
revised based on feedback from the pilots. As the survey was completed by one employee on
behalf of their organisation, gaining personal information, such as that required by equality and
diversity questions, may break confidentiality within the workplace. Therefore, the decision was
made that this information will be gathered in the second phase of this project through surveys
targeting individual staff who are doing CLD work.
Survey guidance
The questionnaire was accompanied by completion guidance, for instance for organisations
which may have wished to submit more than one response due to the wide range of CLD work
they were carrying out. The guidance was also informed by completion issues which had
emerged during the pilot. The guidance contained an inclusive definition of the staff in CLD
16 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
roles. It asked organisations to provide information about paid staff and volunteers in their
organisation or service who:
1) Worked in ways that reflected the national CLD competences and ethics.
2) Undertook one or more of the following types of work identified in national guidance on
CLD:
a. community development and/or community capacity building;
b. youth work;
c. family learning and other early intervention work with children, young people and
families;
d. community-based adult learning, including adult literacies and English for
speakers of other languages (ESOL);
e. volunteer development;
f. learning for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the community, for example,
people with disabilities, care leavers or offenders;
g. learning support and guidance in the community.
3) Had the term ‘community learning and development’ or one of a long list of other terms in
their job title, such as youth worker, adult learning worker, community worker, community
development worker.
4) Were involved in direct delivery, management, or support and development roles.
The full survey guidance is included in Appendix 2.
Survey delivery
The questionnaire was opened on 23rd February 2015 and remained available until 17th April
2015. A link to the online questionnaire was hosted on the Education Scotland website, and it
was also widely promoted by all partners using a range of communication channels, including enewsletters, social media and face-to-face events. It is not possible to say exactly how many
organisations received the survey, however the achieved sample size was 308 organisations
(see Chapter 3 for more details). This sample is larger than any previous surveys of
organisations doing CLD work in Scotland. For instance, the achieved samples in the previous
surveys of CLD organisations in Scotland were as follows:
LLUK (2010)
64 responses
LLUK (2008)
92 responses
Learning Connections, Communities Scotland (2007)
79 responses
While the achieved sample of organisations was larger than these previous national surveys, it
is clear than this survey has not been completed by all organisations doing CLD work in
Scotland. The implications of this are discussed in the limitations in section 2.3 below.
2.2
Data cleaning and analysis
After the completion of the survey, data was processed to check for incomplete responses,
duplicate responses and completion errors. For instance, as it was a self-completion survey, in
some cases, when ‘other’ had been chosen but the information fitted one of the answer choices,
the information was recoded into the appropriate category. This data cleaning was carried out
to allow for a more accurate analysis of responses. The Education Scotland Analytical Services
17 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Team discussed the process of analysis with partners, who highlighted the most important
areas of analysis for the CLD sector. This report provides findings from this analysis, as well as
other findings which were felt to be of wider interest to the CLD sector. Descriptive statistics,
such as sample totals and subgroup proportions, were produced by aggregating survey
responses after the data cleaning process had been completed. Qualitative responses have
been analysed to give further detail on the findings presented in this report.
2.3
Limitations
As highlighted above, the research design and methods were chosen to be appropriate to the
nature of the CLD sector. As with any research design and methods, there are a number of
limitations associated with this.
As a non-probability sampling approach was used, and it is clear that the survey was not
completed by all known organisations doing CLD work in Scotland, we cannot say that the
findings of this survey represent all organisations doing CLD work in Scotland. As the survey
was carried out at a single point in time it would be potentially misleading to compare it to any
other data about the CLD workforce in Scotland, such as the earlier LLUK survey. Selfcompletion surveys also run the risk of being poorly completed or of questions being
misunderstood, although the survey was piloted and guidance was provided to minimise this
risk.
2.4
Structure of the report
The rest of the report is structured as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
Chapter 3 describes the profile of responding organisations doing CLD work.
Chapter 4 describes findings relating to paid staff in CLD roles, including overall numbers,
hours worked and perceived changes in paid staffing levels over the past five years.
Chapter 5 describes findings relating to the training and professional development of paid
staff in CLD roles.
Chapter 6 describes findings related to the volunteer CLD workforce, including overall
numbers, the nature of volunteer roles and perceived changes in volunteer levels over the
past five years.
Chapter 7 outlines a number of conclusions and recommendations based on the findings.
18 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
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19 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
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3.
Findings: Profile of organisations
Chapter Overview
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
3.1
308 organisations responded to the survey.
62% were third sector organisations; 24% were local authority services
and 14% were ‘other’ organisations.
These organisations were carrying out and supporting CLD activity across
Scotland.
25% of organisations focused on activity related to youth work; 23% on
community capacity building and/or community development and 8% on
adult learning. 27% of organisations reported that they focused on all of these
areas while 18% had an ‘other’ focus.
Local authority services were more likely to have a focus on all of the above
areas of activity, whereas third sector organisations tended to report having a
more specific focus on particular areas of activity such as youth work or
community capacity building.
Organisations worked with a wide range of groups, with the largest number of
organisations working with community groups and organisations, young
people and volunteers.
48% of organisations were involved in work relating to the Statutory
Regulations for Community Learning and Development (Scotland).
Introduction
This chapter presents data about the profile of organisations which responded to the survey. As
the survey was self-completion, some organisations which responded left the survey after
answering some, but not all, questions. There were four main sections of the survey which
were completed by different numbers of organisations, as summarised in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Survey completion pattern
Number
of
organisations
providing this information
Questions completed
Provided organisational information
(Questions 1-7)
Provided workforce totals
(Questions 1-13)
Provided CPD information (e.g. professional
development requirements)
(Question 1-24)
Provided information on their volunteers
(Questions 1-32)
308
245
214
136
The questions about volunteers were optional, as some organisations did not report using any
volunteers. In presenting findings in this report, decisions were made about which data to
20 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
include at which point. For completeness, the findings in this chapter relate to all 308
organisations which gave data, to give the fullest possible overview of active organisations
across Scotland. Later findings are based only on the more detailed data given by the subgroup of 245, 214 or 136 organisations, and this is stated clearly at the beginning of each
chapter.
3.2
Organisational groupings
Respondents were asked to classify what type of organisation or service they were responding
on behalf of. Responses to this question were then aggregated into three high-level groupings,
which partners felt would give a useful categorisation of the types of organisations doing CLD
work in Scotland. See Appendix 3 for more detail about this exercise. The three groupings
were as follows.
(1) Local authority organisations or services
As local authority staff with CLD responsibilities are increasingly spread across more than one
service, local authorities were given the option of submitting either one overall response or
several responses reflecting each relevant service area. The arm’s length trusts created by
some local authorities are also included within the local authority services category. Therefore,
the number of responses within this grouping does not correspond directly to the number of
local authorities in Scotland.
(2) Third sector organisations
Third sector organisations include all national and local community and voluntary organisations,
social enterprises and development trusts. This sector is less likely to align to local authority
boundaries and often works at a community, regional or national level.
(3) ‘Other’ organisations
‘Other’ organisations include other public sector bodies such as health boards, government
agencies, universities and colleges plus the small number (15) of remaining organisations made
up of consultancies and private sector organisations.
Based on this categorisation, of the 308 organisations which gave organisational information:
24% (74) were classed as local authority services; 62% (191) were classed as third sector
organisations and 14% (43) were classed as ‘other’ Organisations – as shown in Chart 1 below.
21 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 1: Overall response (by organisational grouping)
14%
24%
Local Authority
Organisation
Third Sector
Other
62%
The largest category of organisations which responded to this survey was third sector
organisations, with twice as many responses than from local authority services.
3.3
Organisations – geographical spread
Organisations were also asked where they had worked directly with learners or communities
over the past 12 months. The chart below shows figures about the geographical spread of
organisations. Chart 2 shows all those organisations which reported that they worked in one or
more specific local authority areas.
It is apparent that CLD activity is being supported in all of the 32 local authority areas across
Scotland. 21 organisations reported working in all 32 local authority areas while a further 33
identified as national organisations. Higher numbers of organisations reported working in the
larger local authorities, such as Glasgow City and City of Edinburgh, in the last 12 months. The
opposite is true for the smaller local authorities, such as Western Isles (Eilean Siar), Orkney and
Shetland.
22 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 2: Organisations - geographical spread
100
90
80
Frequency
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Aberdeen City
Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll & Bute
Clackmannanshire
Dumfries & Galloway
Dundee City
East Ayrshire
East Dunbartonshire
East Lothian
East Renfrewshire
Edinburgh
Eilean Siar
Falkirk
Fife
Glasgow
Highland
Inverclyde
Midlothian
Moray
North Ayrshire
North Lanarkshire
Orkney Islands
Perth & Kinross
Renfrewshire
Scottish Borders
Shetland Islands
South Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire
Stirling
West Dunbartonshire
West Lothian
0
3.4
Organisations – main focus of work
Organisations were asked to identify the main focus of their work. Chart 3 below presents
respondents’ views on their organisation’s main focus, again based on the 308 organisations
that gave this information.
Chart 3: Organisations – main focus of work
Community
Development/Capacity
Building
18%
23%
Youth Work
Adult Learning
27%
25%
8%
All of the Above
Other
23 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
The largest percentage of organisations, 27% (83) classed the main focus of their work as ‘all of
the above’, suggesting that some organisations undertake a diverse range of CLD work. There
is a relatively even spread between the other main areas of focus, apart from adult learning
which was reported by only 8% (25) of organisations. The ‘other’ category chosen by 18% (54)
of organisations included a range of topics, including:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cultural activities, such as music- or museum-related work;
Employability and skills;
Equalities awareness;
Health, mental health and wellbeing;
Outdoor learning and
Work with specific vulnerable groups, e.g. disabled people and unpaid carers.
As well as exploring the overall pattern of organisations’ areas of focus, responses were also
analysed for the three high-level categories mentioned above (local authority services, third
sector and ‘other’ organisations), as shown in Charts 4, 5 and 6 below.
Chart 4: Local authority services – main focus of work
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
CCB
Youth Work Adult Learning
All of the
Above
Other
Over half (57%; 42) of the local authority services described the main focus of their organisation
as covering all of the given categories, which may reflect the wide remit of their work. The
percentage of local authority services with a main focus on adult learning was greater (15%; 11)
than the percentage of all organisations (8%), and was similar to the percentage of local
authority services stating that they focus mainly on youth work (14%; 10). These are greater
than the number focusing on community development and/or community capacity building (8%;
6). Only 7% (5) of local authority services considered the main focus of their work to be ‘other’.
24 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 5: Third sector – main focus of work
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
CCB
Youth Work Adult Learning
All of the
Above
Other
Within third sector organisations there was a more even reported distribution of organisational
focus. The highest percentage of third sector organisations stated that youth work was their
main focus (34%; 64), which is higher than both local authority services and ‘other’
organisations. A high percentage of third sector organisations, 30% (58), identified their main
focus as community development and/or community capacity building which again is much
greater than local authority and other organisations. In comparison with local authority services
and other organisations, a much smaller percentage, 14% (26), of third sector organisations
also stated that their main focus was ‘all of the above’. Only 5% (10) responded that the main
focus of their work was on adult learning. Also, 17% (33) of third sector respondents
considered the main focus of their work to be ‘other’. The findings above suggest that, in
comparison with local authority and other organisations, third sector organisations tend to have
a more specific focus on youth work, adult learning or community development and/or
community capacity building.
Chart 6: Other organisations – main focus of work
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
CCB
Youth Work Adult Learning
All of the
Above
Other
25 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
A large percentage of ‘other’ organisations had a main focus on ‘other’ and ‘all of the above’,
37% (16) and 35% (15) respectively. This suggests that organisations categorised as ‘other’
undertake CLD activity that falls less easily into predefined areas when compared with third
sector organisations or local authority services. The ‘other’ organisations appear to work less in
youth work (5%, 2) than local authority services and third sector organisations.
3.5
Organisations – groups worked with
Organisations were asked to identify the groups that they work with. Chart 7, below, presents
responses from the 308 organisations that gave this information.
Organisations worked with a wide range of groups. The largest number of organisations
worked with community groups and organisations, young people and volunteers (light green
bars above). Few organisations said that they ‘did not define specific groups’; ’were a support
organisation’; or worked with ‘other’ target groups (purple bars above). This suggests that most
organisations were targeting their CLD activity in some way and, overall, organisations are
working with a broad range of target groups.
Chart 7: Organisations – groups worked with
Number of Organisations
250
200
150
100
50
0
3.6
Response to Statutory CLD Regulations
In 2013, the Scottish Government reinforced its ambitions for CLD by putting in place the
statutory Regulations for Community Learning and Development (Scotland). The Regulations
place duties on local authorities to work with partners and communities to audit need for CLD,
and consult and plan for CLD at a local level. Organisations were asked to identify whether
26 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
they were currently involved in work relating to these regulations. Almost half (48%; 102) of
organisations were involved in work relating to the Regulations. Around one third of
organisations (34%; 72) were not involved in work relating to the Regulations, while 15% (32)
did not know if this work was underway.
When considered by organisational grouping, 74% (40) of local authority services were involved
in work relating to the Regulations. 7% (4) were not involved in work relating to the Regulations,
while 13% (7) did not know. 34% (46) of third sector organisations were involved in work
relating to the Regulations. Just less than half (49%; 66) were not involved in work relating to
the Regulations, while 15% (20) did not know. The number of responses for ‘other’
organisations was too small to reliably report on.
27 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
4.
Findings: Paid Community Learning and Development Staff
Chapter Overview
•
•
•
•
•
4.1
The survey identified 6,899 paid staff working in CLD roles in responding
organisations in the week beginning 23rd February 2015. A further 583 paid
staff in CLD roles in these organisations were not working that same week,
e.g. because they were working in sessional or seasonal roles.
64% of these staff were employed by local authority services, 28% were
employed by third sector organisations and 7% were employed by ‘other’
organisations.
Nearly three quarters of staff (73%) were involved in front-line provision.
Most paid staff were working ‘up to 17.5 hours per week’ (43%) or ‘35
hours or above per week’ (38%).
Overall, slightly more organisations thought there had been an increase in
the number of staff in paid CLD roles since 2009/10 than thought there had
been a decrease. When the figures were broken down into the three highlevel organisational groupings, third sector and ‘other’ organisations both
maintained the perception that there had been an increase in paid staff in
CLD roles since 2009/10. In contrast, local authority services perceived a
decrease in the number of paid staff over this period, although over 20% of
local authorities perceived an increase.
Introduction
The findings in this chapter are based on the 245 respondents who gave overall workforce
totals for their paid staff in the survey, and also responded to a question about perceived
change in paid staff numbers over the last five years. Although this is a smaller group than the
308 organisations which the last chapter was based on, the overall profile of these 245
organisations is very similar to the larger group. For instance, Chart 8 below breaks down the
245 organisations into the three high-level groupings (local authority services, third sector and
‘other’ organisations). In addition, Chart 9 below breaks down the 245 organisations according
to the main focus of their work.
28 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 8: Response rate – organisational information (by organisational grouping)
11%
Local
Authority
Third Sector
24%
Other
65%
Chart 9: Main focus of work – organisational information
Community
Development/Capacity
Building
16%
Youth Work
24%
Adult Learning
25%
9%
25%
All of the Above
Other
4.2
Paid staff – overall numbers
Overall, the survey identified 6,899 staff working in these 245 organisations in paid CLD roles in
the week beginning 23rd February 2015. It identified a further 583 staff in paid CLD roles in
these organisations who were not working that same week, for instance because they were
employed in seasonal or sessional roles. This indicates that there are at least 7,482 paid staff
in CLD roles in Scotland. Given that 63 organisations that responded to the survey did not
provide information on the numbers in their workforce, it is apparent that this is an
underestimate of the CLD workforce.
4.3
Paid staff – distribution (by organisational grouping)
The percentage of paid staff in CLD roles who were working within the different organisational
groupings for the same week is presented in Chart 10 below.
29 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 10: Paid staff – distribution (by organisational grouping)
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Local Authority
Third Sector
Other
Of the 244 organisations that gave workforce totals, 64% (4,449) of paid staff were working in
local authority services, 28% (1,963) in third sector organisations and 7% (487) in ‘other’
organisations. Although 65% of the organisations that gave workforce totals were in the third
sector, only 28% of the paid staff fall within this category. In contrast, 64% of paid staff are
working in local authority services, yet these organisations made up just 24% of the total
responses. This indicates that the CLD sector includes high numbers of third sector
organisations with small numbers of paid staff, while local authority services tend to employ
larger numbers of paid staff in CLD roles.
The number of paid staff working and not working during the survey week are displayed in
Table 2 below.
Table 2: Paid staff – distribution of work during survey week (by organisational grouping)
Number of Paid
staff
working
23rd of Feb 2015
Number of Paid
staff
NOT
working 23rd of
Feb 2015
%
of
Organisational
Grouping
NOT
working 23rd of
Feb 2015
Local Authority
4449
267
6%
Third Sector
1963
302
13%
Other
487
14
3%
As shown above, the third sector reported a larger percentage of paid staff (13%) who were not
working during the survey week when compared to local authority services (6%).
4.4
Paid staff – roles
Organisations were asked to identify how many staff were working mainly in the following
categories: front line staff; front line managers; senior or strategic managers; administrative
30 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
support staff and professional support staff. The proportion of the total paid staff working in
each of the above roles, for the 245 organisations that completed this information, is presented
in Chart 11 below.
Chart 11: Paid staff – roles
Front line staff
3%
Front line managers
9%
10%
Senior or strategic
managers
4%
8%
65%
Administrative support
staff
Professional support staff
Information Unavailable
Almost two thirds of the paid CLD workforce (65%; 4514) covered in this survey worked in frontline roles which routinely work with learners and/or communities. A similar proportion of the
workforce were front-line managers (8%; 572) and in administrative roles (10%; 673). This
indicates that nearly three quarters of the paid CLD workforce were directly involved in front-line
provision. There were few staff (less than 5%) working as senior or strategic managers and in
professional support roles. Nine per cent of responses were categorised as unavailable as the
provided information was considered to be unreliable due to completion errors.
4.5
Paid staff – hours worked
Organisations were asked to specify the number of hours worked per week by their paid staff in
three categories: 35 hours or above; 17.5 to 34 hours and up to 17.5 hours – as shown in Chart
12 below.
31 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 12: Paid staff – contracted hours
3%
35 hours or above per
week
38%
43%
17.5 to 34 hours per week
Up to 17.5 hours per
week
16%
Information Unavailable
A similar proportion of paid staff were working in what would be considered as full-time posts
(35 hours or above) (38%; 2644) when compared to those that are working ‘up to 17.5 hours’
(43%; 2938). Fewer paid staff (16%; 1126) were working between 17.5 hours and 34 hours a
week. Three per cent of responses were categorised as unavailable as the provided
information was considered to be unreliable due to completion errors.
4.6
Paid staff – perceived change in numbers
The survey asked organisations about their perceptions of change in paid staff numbers since
2009/10. This time period was chosen as it was identified that there has been significant
change in the CLD sector during these years, and also the most recent LLUK survey of the CLD
workforce in Scotland was carried out in 2010. The largest proportion of organisations, 37%
(91), perceived there to have been an increase in paid staff CLD roles since 2009/10, with a
slightly smaller percentage 33% (80) reporting a decrease and 22% (53) indicating that paid
staffing levels had stayed the same. Nine per cent (21) of organisations reported that they did
not know. As we do not know the volume of these changes it cannot be concluded whether
there has been any change in the total workforce number. However, it can be concluded that
there has been movement within the sector which has affected organisations in different sectors
in contrasting ways.
32 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 13: Paid staff – perceived staffing change (all organisations)
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the same
Don't know
Chart 14 below shows the perceived change in paid staff numbers broken down by the three
high-level groupings (local authority services, third sector and ‘other’ organisations).
Chart 14: Paid staff – perceived staffing change (by organisational grouping)
70%
60%
50%
40%
Local Authority
Organisations
30%
Third sector
20%
Other
10%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the
same
Don't know
Over half of local authority services (59%; 35) thought that the number of paid staff in CLD roles
had decreased, although local authority services also reported that they employed a higher
number of paid staff.
Forty One Percent (65) of third sector organisations thought there had been an increase in paid
staff in CLD roles since 2009/10. Only 24% (38) of these organisations thought there had been
a decrease in paid roles, which is the same as those that perceive the number of paid staff has
stayed the same (24%; 38). The number of third sector respondents reporting that they did not
know is quite high, at 11% (18).
33 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
For ‘other’ organisations, the pattern is similar to that for the third sector respondents with 44%
(12) reporting an increase in paid staff in CLD roles. Similar to the third sector, the percentage
of ‘other’ organisations that stated a decrease (26%; 7) is the same as those who perceived it to
have stayed the same (26%; 7).
34 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
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35 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
5. Findings: Training and Professional Development for Paid Staff
Chapter Overview
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
5.1
60% of organisations required their CLD managers, and 60% required their
staff working directly with communities, to hold a CLD specific qualification.
Organisations reported supporting a wide range of training/professional
development opportunities for their staff. The most common reported types of
training/professional development were attendance at external courses and
conferences and in-house courses, while those least reported were online
learning, shadowing/internships, further education courses and action learning
sets.
Local authority services appeared more likely to support internal courses.
Third sector and ‘other’ organisations appeared less likely to support further
education courses, secondments and shadowing/internships than local
authority services.
Training and professional development priorities were wide ranging. The
most frequently reported areas were: evaluation and quality improvement;
funding and finance; management skills – (projects, managing change); IT,
digital learning and social media; and accreditation and assessment
69% of organisations reported that they would be able to meet their training
and/or professional development needs for the next 12 months.
Organisations appear to be funding training and professional development
primarily from their own core budgets. Funding from other sources (e.g.
Scottish Government, national external funding or local external funding)
appears to play a lesser but still significant role in supporting training and
professional development for the CLD workforce.
There was a fairly even split between organisations reporting that their core
funding for training and/or professional development had decreased or
stayed the same, although responses suggest that core funding has
decreased more than additional funding over the period 2009/10-2014/15.
Only a minority of organisations reported using i-develop or GLOW. 25% of
reported using i-develop. Less than 20% reported using Glow.
Introduction
Organisations were asked a number of questions about their qualifications, training and
professional development priorities for their paid staff. The findings in this chapter are based on
the 214 organisations that gave this information about their workforce.
36 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
5.2
Paid staff – qualifications
Table 3 below presents reported CLD-specific qualifications required for paid staff.
Table 3: Paid staff – reported CLD-specific qualifications (% of organisations)
Degree (CLD-specific)
HNC/HND (CLD-specific)
Other (CLD-specific)
Totals
CLD
managers
(paid)
(n = 214)
50%
10%
60%
Staff
working
directly
with
communities
(paid) (n = 214)
27%
12%
21%
60%
Support
staff
(paid) (n = 214)
5%
8%
23%
36%
Half of the 214 organisations (50%) required CLD managers to hold a CLD specific degree
while just 10% required another CLD specific qualification (HND, HNC, PDA or ‘other
qualification’). 40% of organisations either did not hire CLD managers or did not require a CLD
specific qualification.
Twenty seven percent of these organisations required staff working directly with communities to
hold a CLD specific degree with a further 12% requiring a CLD specific HNC or HND. 21% of
the 214 organisations required staff working directly with communities to hold another CLD
specific qualification (Professional Development Award or ‘other qualification’). 40% of
organisations either did not hire staff to work directly with communities or did not require a CLD
specific qualification.
Thirty six per cent of organisations required their support staff to have a CLD specific
qualification. Sixty four per cent of organisations either did not hire support staff or did not
require a CLD specific qualification.
5.3
Paid staff – identification and evaluation of training and/or professional
development needs
Sixty nine per cent (148) of organisations evaluated the impact of their training and/or
professional development for paid staff. Eighty one per cent (174) of organisations reported
that they regularly gathered information about the training and/or professional development
needs of their staff (e.g. through surveys or a performance appraisal). Also, 45% (96) of
organisations reported that they have a written professional workforce development plan. In
addition, 66% (142) of organisations expect their staff to have a personal learning or
development plan. Five per cent (11) do none of these things while 39% (83) do all of them.
5.4
Paid staff – training and/or professional development supported
Chart 15 below presents the types of training and/or professional development that have been
supported for paid staff in CLD roles over the past 12 months.
37 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 15: Paid staff – training and/or professional development supported
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
As shown above, organisations supported a wide variety of training and/or professional
development opportunities for paid staff in CLD roles during the last year. The types of training
and/or professional development most commonly supported are external courses and
conferences (82%; 175) and in-house courses (71%; 152). The types of training and/or
professional development least commonly supported are: shadowing/internships; further
education courses and action learning sets.
As well as looking at the overall spread of training and/or professional development
opportunities for paid staff, responses were also broken down according to the three high-level
groupings (local authority, third sector and ‘other’ organisations). Responses were broadly
similar when this was done, for instance attendance at conferences and external courses
remained high across all three organisational groupings. Local authority services appeared
more likely to support internal courses, when compared with the other two groups of
organisations.
5.5
Paid staff – meeting training and/or professional development needs
Organisations were also asked to highlight whether there were any identified training and
professional development needs for their paid staff that they would not be able to address over
the next 12 months, even if they had identified a need for this training or professional
development. The results are presented in Chart 16 below.
38 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 16: Paid staff – meeting training and/or professional development needs
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Unable to meet needs
Able to meet needs
Unsure
Across all organisations that responded to this question the majority (69%; 147) felt they would
be able to meet training and/or professional development needs for their staff, however 28%
(59) stated that they did anticipate not being able to address one or more identified training
and/or professional development needs.
When the responses are disaggregated by the three high-level organisational groupings, some
differences arise, as shown in Chart 17 below.
Chart 17: Paid staff – meeting training and/or professional development needs (by organisational
grouping)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
Local Authority
Organisation
50%
Third Sector
40%
Other
30%
20%
10%
0%
Unable to meet
needs
Able to meet needs
Unsure
Local authority services (35%; 19) were more likely to indicate that there were identified training
and/or professional development needs that they would not be able to address over the next 12
months, compared to third sector (27%; 37) and ‘other’ (13%; 3) organisations. Almost 90% of
39 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
‘other’ organisations indicated that they would be able to meet identified training and/or
professional development needs over the next 12 months.
5.6
Paid staff – training and/or professional development priorities
Organisations were asked to identify the main priorities for the training and/or professional
development of their paid staff in CLD roles over the next 12 months. Unsurprisingly there was
a wide range of different responses to this question but a number of broad themes are listed
below.
• Evaluation and quality improvement
• Funding and finance
• Management skills – project, finance, change, IT
• IT, digital learning and social media
• Accreditation and assessment
• Leadership
• Policy and planning
• Adult and child protection
• Community development and/or community capacity building
• Youth work and youth issues
This data has been represented as a Word Cloud in Appendix 4.
5.7
Paid staff – funding sources for training and/or professional
development
Organisations were asked the source of their funding for training and/or professional
development. Responses are summarised in Table 4 below.
Table 4: Paid staff – funding sources for training and/or professional development
Funding source
Organisations
(n=214)
Core budget
69%
Scottish Government external funding
20%
National external funding (e.g. Big Lottery)
19%
Local external funding (e.g. Community
18%
Planning Partnerships, local authorities)
No access to funding for training or professional
16%
development
As shown above, over two thirds of organisations funded training and/or professional
development from their core budget. A fifth of organisations reported that they gained training
and/or professional development funding from the Scottish Government, national external
funding or local external funding.
40 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
5.8
Change in training and/or professional development budgets
Organisations were asked whether they felt that their budget for training and/or professional
development (from both core and any additional funding) had increased or decreased since
2009/10. As with the earlier question about perceived changes in staffing numbers, this
question aimed to explore changes in funding during a period of restricted budgets. The charts
below highlight these perceived changes for all organisations (214) and then disaggregate the
information to analyse perceptions within each of the three high-level groupings (local authority,
third sector and ‘other’ organisations).
Chart 18: Change in training and/or professional development budget
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
Core Budget
20%
Additional Budget
15%
10%
5%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the same
Don't know
As shown in Chart 18, 43% (92) of organisations reported that core funding for training and/or
professional development had decreased, 13% (27) that it had increased and 30% (65) that it
had stayed the same. There is a similar pattern for additional funding, with 28% (60) of
organisations reporting a decrease and 17% (37) an increase, while 29% (61) reporting that
budgets had stayed the same. The percentage of organisations that reported they did not know
about changes in the additional budget was 26% (56) in comparison to 14% for the core budget
(30).
Charts 19 and 20 below break down these perceived changes in core and additional
professional development budgets for local authority services (green bars), third sector
organisations (orange bars) and ‘other’ organisations (turquoise bars).
41 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 19: Change in core training and/or professional development budget (by organisational
grouping)
80%
70%
60%
Local Authority
Organisations
50%
Third Sector
40%
30%
Other
20%
10%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the same
Don't know
Chart 20: Change in additional training and/or professional development budget (by
organisational grouping)
80%
70%
60%
Local Authority
Organisations
50%
40%
Third Sector
30%
Other
20%
10%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the same
Don't know
Compared to all responding organisations, a larger proportion of local authority services
reported a decrease since 2009/10 in both core and additional training and/or professional
development budgets. For the core budget, a high 74% (40) of local authority services reported
a decrease compared to just 7% (4) reporting an increase. Fifteen per cent (8) of local authority
services thought the core budget had stayed the same and 4% (2) did not know.
Thirty five per cent (48) of third sector organisations reported that there had been a decrease in
the core training and/or professional development budget and 34% (36) reported that it had
stayed the same since 2009/10. Only 15% (20) reported an increase in the core training and/or
professional development budget and 16% (22) said that they did not know.
42 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
The pattern with the ‘other’ organisations responses is slightly different. Forty six per cent (11)
of organisations reported that the core training and/or professional development budget had
stayed the same since 2009/10, while 17% (4) reported a decrease and 13% (3) an increase.
25% (6), said that they did not know about changes in the core training and/or professional
development budget.
For the additional training and/or professional development budget the pattern is similar with a
high proportion of local authority services reporting a decrease (37%; 20) and only 6% (3)
reporting an increase. However, a fairly high percentage, 35% (19) believed that the training
and/or professional development budget from additional funding had stayed the same and 22%
(12) did not know.
For the additional training and/or professional development budget, 26% (36) of third sector
organisations reported that it had decreased and also that it had stayed the same. Finally, 24%
(32) of third sector organisations reported that the additional training and/or professional
development budget had increased and that they did not know (which is fairly high).
For additional funding a high 50% (12) of ‘other’ organisations reported that they did not know if
the training and/or professional development budget had changed. Twenty five per cent (6)
thought that the additional training and/or professional development budget had stayed the
same, 17% (4) thought there had been a decrease and 8% (2) an increase.
5.9
Use of Glow and i-develop
i-develop 9, is the national web-based framework to support creative and innovative learning and
development for CLD practitioners in Scotland. Twenty five per cent (52) of organisations (206
responses) reported that they were using i-develop and 21% (43) responded that they were not
using it. Nearly half (49%; 101) of organisations (206 responses) had not heard of i-develop.
Glow 10 is Scotland’s nationally available digital environment for learning. 19% (39) of
organisations (206 responses) reported that they were using Glow and 53% (109) responded
that they were not. 26% (54) of organisations (206 responses) had not heard of Glow, The
comments given for a lack of take up by CLD staff mostly focused on the fact that practitioners
could not sign up to GLOW without being ‘invited’ by colleagues in education.
9
http://www.i-develop-cld.org.uk
http://connect.glowscotland.org.uk
10
43 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
44 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
6.
Findings: Volunteers
Chapter overview
•
•
•
•
•
•
6.1
66% of the 214 organisations that responded to this section of the survey
indicated that volunteers form part of their workforce.
There were 40,162 volunteers working in CLD roles in the week beginning
23rd February 2015. There were also 4,175 volunteers in CLD roles who
were not working in the same week.
Overall, these volunteers work roughly a total of 195,187 hours in a typical
week.
The highest percentage of volunteers working in CLD roles was reported by
third sector organisations.
Over four in every five volunteers worked in face-to-face roles with learners
or communities.
Overall, just over half of organisations thought there had been an increase in
volunteer numbers since 2009/10.
Introduction
As well as their paid workforce, organisations were asked a number of questions about the part
that volunteers play in their organisation. Of the 214 organisations which gave descriptive
information about their workforce, 142 reported that they used volunteers. A total of 136
organisations then continued to give information on their volunteer workforce. The findings in
this chapter are therefore based on the responses from this subset of the total number of
organisations responding to the survey. It is important to note that in addition to volunteers who
form part of the CLD workforce, stimulating, generating and supporting voluntary activity (by
people who are not “volunteer” CLD workers) in a wide variety of forms is a central feature of
CLD practice.
6.2
Volunteers – overall numbers
Volunteers in CLD roles have always been a very important part of the CLD workforce and the
survey results show that this continues to be the case. Two thirds (66%; 141) of the 214
organisations that responded to this question indicated that volunteers form part of their
workforce. Overall there were 40,162 volunteers working in CLD roles in the week beginning
23rd February 2015. There were also 4,175 volunteers in CLD roles who were not working in
the same week. These volunteers work roughly a total of 195,187 hours in a typical week.
Chart 21 below disaggregates the percentages of volunteers working in the survey week for the
three high-level groupings (local authority, third sector and ‘other’ organisations).
45 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 21: Volunteers – percentage active (by organisational grouping)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Local authority
Third Sector
Other
As shown above, the vast majority of volunteers in CLD roles worked with third sector
organisations. This suggests that the third sector CLD workforce is made up of a larger group
of volunteers while the proportions of volunteers with local authority services and other
organisations are much lower.
6.3
Volunteers – work carried out
Organisations were asked what types of work volunteers had done in their organisation or
service in the week commencing 23rd February 2015. Chart 22 shows the proportion of the
volunteer workforce involved in each type of work for the 136 organisations that completed
information on their volunteers.
Chart 22: Volunteers – work carried out
2%
6%
Face to face work with
learners or
communities
4%
5%
Support work e.g.
administration,
fundraising
Committee, board or
governance work
84%
Other
Information Unavailable
46 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Over four in every five (84%; 33,562) volunteers worked face-to-face with learners or
communities (green). Few volunteers worked in support roles (purple), on committees or
boards (yellow) or in ‘other’ roles (turquoise).
6.4
Volunteers – perceived change in numbers
As with paid staff, organisations were asked to give their perceptions about changes in
volunteer numbers since 2009/10. Overall perceptions of changes in volunteer numbers and
disaggregated responses by organisation type are presented below.
Chart 23: Volunteers – perceived change in numbers
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the same
Don't know
As shown above, 51% (69) of organisations thought there had been an increase in volunteer
numbers since 2009/10, 22% (30) that this had stayed the same and 19% (26) that it had
decreased. When the figures are analysed for each organisation type the perceptions are
slightly different, as shown in Chart 24 below. As there were just nine responses from ‘other’
organisations for this question their results have been excluded from the analysis.
47 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Chart 24: Volunteers – perceived change in numbers (by organisational grouping)
60%
50%
40%
Local Authority
Organisation
30%
Third sector
20%
10%
0%
Decrease
Increase
Stayed the
same
Don't know
The highest percentage of local authority services (44%; 19) reported a perceived increase in
volunteer numbers since 2009/10, which is lower than the overall response (51%). The
percentage of local authority services perceiving a decrease was 2 percentage points higher
than the overall figure and those reporting no change (21%; 9) was 1 percentage point less than
the overall figure. The percentage of local authority services who reported that they did not
know was 14% (6) compared to the overall percentage of eight per cent.
A higher percentage (58%; 49) of third sector organisations reported increased volunteer
numbers since 2009/10 in comparison to the percentage of all organisations (51%). This is
possibly due to the fact that third sector organisations have the highest percentage of
volunteers overall. Also, 19% (16) of third sector organisations perceived that the volunteer
workforce had decreased while a further 19% (16) reported that it had stayed the same. The
percentage of organisations who did not know was low (5%; 4).
48 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
7.
Conclusions and recommendations
7.1
About the study
The original aim of this study was to find out more about the range of paid workers and
volunteers who support community learning and development across Scotland. The reasons for
doing this were to:
1. Establish a baseline against which future workforce trends can be measured
2. Inform national community learning and development policy and planning; and
3. Inform national professional development and/or training priorities.
Since the last national survey of this kind, over 5 years ago, there has been an increasing focus
on CLD in national policy. In addition to this there have been a number of factors that were
likely to have had an effect on the CLD workforce over this period including: increasing cuts in
public sector funding (having an effect on all sectors); public sector reform and changes in the
third sector (including the growth of organisations such as community development trusts).
The research methodology used is described in Section 2 of this report. Partners knew from
previous studies that surveying the CLD workforce as a whole would not be straightforward.
Indeed, we did discuss whether it was actually desirable or possible to gather data on CLD
workforce as a coherent group. The objectives of the study informed who to target; what to ask;
what terminology to use; and what guidance to give. We wanted as many organisations and
services that identified that some or all of their workforce did CLD work based on the national
CLD competences and ethics, reflecting the priorities set out in national CLD guidance. We
knew that the organisations included would have staff and volunteers working in many different
settings and roles with many different job titles,not all of whom would even use the term ‘CLD’ to
describe what they do.
Given the acknowledged limitations of the survey, it is not possible to say that the findings
represent a complete picture of the CLD workforce. However we do know that this study was
successful in gathering data from a wider range of organisations than previous surveys of this
type. Having gone through a rigorous data cleaning process, we are confident that the numbers
given here are reliable. The findings indicate that the CLD workforce is at least as large as the
numbers reported and that it is very likely to be larger. We aim to use the survey findings to
provide a basis for comparison over time, and to construct future research in ways that build on
this.
7.2
About the organisations and services who took part in the study
The fact that over 300 organisations and services across the public and third sectors chose to
identify themselves with CLD by taking part in the survey indicates that it is possible to describe
a reasonably coherent ‘CLD sector’ in Scotland.
The survey findings show that there is a large and diverse range of organisations and services
with paid staff and/or volunteers in CLD roles and these organisations are supporting CLD
49 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
activity in all 32 local authority areas across Scotland. Around two thirds of the organisations
that responded to the survey were in the third sector. They included national and local
voluntary organisations, social enterprises, third sector interface organisations and community
development trusts. The fact that there was more than one response from many authorities
indicates that staff in CLD roles are spread across more than one service or department.
Over half of organisations identified one main area of focus for their CLD work. This group were
most likely to focus on youth work or community development/community capacity building
while less than 10% focused on adult learning alone. Around a quarter of organisations focused
on all three of these areas of work (‘all of the above’) while nearly a fifth chose other ways to
describe what they do. The lower number of organisations focusing only on adult learning may
indicate that there is less targeted adult learning provision, however a significant number of
organisations doing ‘all of the above’ will be working with adult learners, including Local
Authority services who hold responsibility to provide adult learning opportunities in their area.
The findings also show that CLD staff are working with a diverse range of individuals and
groups in their communities many of whom are targeted by national policies (e.g. young people;
community groups; volunteers; Developing the Young Workforce; older people; children; and
families etc.). This suggests that most organisations were targeting their CLD activity in some
way and, overall, organisations are working with a broad range of target groups.
7.3
About the CLD workforce
The survey found that there are at least 7,482 paid staff in CLD roles in Scotland (6899 were
employed the week of the 23rd of February and 583 were employed within the past 12 months
outwith that week). The findings also indicate that there are at least 40,000 volunteers in CLD
roles.
The survey underlines the fact that the paid CLD workforce includes a mix of part time and full
time posts. In fact the majority of paid staff (around 60%) work part-time and of those, just over
40% work less than 17.5 hours per week. This finding has obvious implications for how
workforce development is planned and delivered.
The survey illustrates the fact that staff in CLD roles work for a wide range of different
organisations across the public and third sectors. About two thirds of paid staff (64%) work for
local authorities; over a quarter work in the third sector; and there are more than 500 paid staff
in CLD roles working with other organisations such as colleges, health boards etc.
The general perception of respondents was that the workforce had grown slightly over the past
five years, however the survey did not provide data on the volume of these changes so it cannot
be assumed that this indicates a change in the total workforce number. Clearly there has been
significant movement within the CLD sector which has affected organisations in contrasting
ways but this finding demands further investigation. For example, there was a marked contrast
between the majority of responses from local authorities who perceived a decline in staff
numbers and the majority of third sector and others who perceived an increase. Comments
from local authorities clearly indicate that this is a period of great change for them. Service
redesign, offers of voluntary redundancy, early retirement and non-filling of vacancies were all
highlighted as reasons for declining staff numbers. That said, it is important to acknowledge
50 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
that local authorities are still the largest employers of paid CLD staff. This is an important factor
given that all local authorities now have statutory responsibilities to secure arrangements for
CLD in their areas.
The perception of growth of the workforce in the voluntary sector over the past five years may
be surprising at first glance but this finding is in line with research by the Scottish Council for the
Voluntary Sector (SCVO) which indicates that the voluntary sector has been growing in
Scotland over the last decade 11 . Comments provided for indicating a perceived increase
tended to be from organisations that had either been created or had been successful in
attracting new funding in the past five years.
The survey provides clear evidence that there is a wide range of voluntary CLD activity with
individuals and communities across Scotland. Volunteers in CLD roles are contributing huge
amounts of time, around 195,000 hours in a typical week. This represents a huge unpaid
investment of skills, knowledge and experience into their communities.
It is also important to note that stimulating and supporting general voluntary activity is a central
feature of CLD practice. The findings indicate that the paid workforce is supporting a great deal
of voluntary activity with 220 organisations saying that they work with volunteers. The findings
suggest that support from paid CLD staff has an impact on both the quality and quantity of
voluntary activity that can be provided within a community. Furthermore it is possible to
interpret from this that decreases in paid CLD staff are likely to have a negative impact on
volunteering in communities.
Finally, the survey highlights that the vast majority of CLD staff - nearly three quarters of paid
staff and over four fifths of volunteers - are working directly with individuals and communities. In
a period of great change it is reassuring to find evidence that the CLD workforce remains
overwhelmingly focused on its core purpose.
7.4
About professional development and training
The majority of organisations require their paid staff to hold a CLD specific qualification.
However the findings may indicate that fewer staff than expected are required to hold a CLD
degree or HND. Furthermore, few organisations indicated that their staff had access to higher
or further education courses (16% and 11% respectively) for training and professional
development suggesting that there may need to be further focus on access to this type of
training.
There is a wide range of professional development and/or training being accessed by paid CLD
staff and volunteers. Most organisations are continuing to invest in professional development or
training, although budgets do appear to be falling. National funding for training and/or
professional development activity was crucial for around one fifth of the organisations that
responded.
11 SCVO research indicates that the voluntary sector in Scotland employed 138,000 people
in 2014. http://www.scvo.org.uk/news-campaigns-and-policy/research/scvo-scottish-thirdsector-statistics/
51 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
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The survey suggests several clear priority areas for national CPD programmes. The most
frequently reported areas were: Evaluation and quality improvement; Funding and finance;
Management skills (projects, managing change); IT, digital learning and social media and
accreditation and assessment. Few responses focused explicitly on either the core CLD
practice competences or understanding the implications of the major changes happening in
policy, legislation and the organisation of public services. This is an area to explore further with
the workforce.
On-line learning remained behind more traditional methods of CPD such as attending
conferences and courses, indicating that that there is work to do to engage more of the
workforce. For example, nearly 50% of organisations did not use online learning at all, even
where no financial commitment was required. This fell to around 15% where some form of
subscription was necessary.
Looking further at the online opportunities available, i-develop, 12 the national web-based
framework to support creative and innovative online learning and development for CLD
practitioners, was only used by a quarter of organisations. While GLOW, Scotland’s national
digital environment for learning, has limited reach within the CLD sector. This may be
unsurprising as GLOW is primarily designed as a vehicle for pupils and staff in schools, with
GLOW accounts being managed at a local level – that is in each local authority, college or, in
some cases, school.
Clearly more work needs to be done to raise the profile of online learning in general and idevelop in particular, supporting CLD organisations to make better use of online learning as a
tool for continuing professional development.
7.5
Recommendations
The findings from this survey have provided useful up to date information about the CLD
workforce. It has increased our understanding of who does CLD in Scotland but it has to be
seen as one step in an ongoing process of dialogue and research with CLD organisations and
practitioners.
Recommendation 1: Awareness raising about the CLD workforce depicted in this study
with policy makers, funders and with the general public.
•
12
There should be more coordinated efforts at a national and local level to increase awareness
with policy makers, funders and with the general public of the CLD workforce depicted in this
study. This is timely given the fact that there is now a statutory requirement for local
authorities to work with their partners to plan together to secure arrangements for CLD in
their area. One option would be for partners to create a series of online profiles of paid CLD
staff & volunteers that illustrated the range and the impact of the CLD workforce.
http://www.i-develop-cld.org.uk
52 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Recommendation 2: The diverse make-up of the workforce should inform professional
development and training at all levels.
•
Assist third sector organisations to access CLD training for their staff. This requires
continued engagement with the third sector to help shape professional learning and training
priorities at both a national and local level.
•
Emphasise the importance of making training opportunities available to part-time staff and
volunteers.
•
Encourage organisations from all sectors to use the updated Professional Development
Strategy and Action Framework, to be launched in Autumn 2015, to plan their workforce
development.
•
Support organisations to build on or create their workforce development strategies.
Recommendation 3: Further research and dialogue with the CLD sector is now required
to continue to develop our understanding of the CLD workforce.
Planned Future Analysis
Education Scotland and partners have already agreed future analysis including
• Work with CLD Managers Scotland to break the data down by local authority area on
request. This should help local authorities meet the statutory requirements of the CLD
Regulations.
•
A closer analysis of the gaps in responses to this survey will be carried out by partners. This
will inform the extent of the workforce to be included in any future surveys and how best to
reach them. For example, all local authorities responded but there were gaps in some of the
workforce data they provided; only a small number of Community Development Trusts
responded to the survey; and no Housing Associations responded.
Possible Further Analysis
•
Trends Over Time:
This study has successfully provided a current picture of the CLD workforce. This now gives
partners the opportunity to track trends within this workforce over the coming years. This
could be done by conducting a similar study on a regular basis – e.g. every two years – and
ensuring that data collection is related to the present survey. Alternatively, they may wish to
look at other methods of working with the sector to track workforce trends. Partners should
fully evaluate the approach used in this study and use what they learn to inform future
workforce studies.
53 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
•
Individual Staff and Volunteer surveys:
This survey targeted organisations. Future research should aim to engage with individual
paid and volunteer practitioners. This would provide opportunities to gather richer data on
the make-up of the workforce, for example equalities information, and the scope of their
work within the community.
•
Qualitative Analysis:
Partners have identified a need for more qualitative research to more fully define the
boundaries of the workforce and gather richer data on the roles of staff and volunteers. This
might be done using a more targeted sampling approach and conducting focus groups.
There is also scope to work with a sample of local partnerships to conduct more area based
investigations of the workforce. One of the pilots for this study successfully used that
approach. The strengths of partner organisations should be utilised for particular areas of
research, for example in relation to workforce development, while maintaining an overall
strategic approach,
Recommended Topics for Further Analysis:
The following topics for possible further research were identified:
• Gather further data on the make-up of the workforce, including equalities characteristics.
• Analyse the focus of individual practitioners work and comparing it with what the
organisations have told us about what they do.
• Investigate the perceived changes in staff numbers and comparing them by sector.
• Find out more about the qualifications of CLD staff and volunteers and asking how well
these equip workers for the roles they have.
• Find out more about the extent to which CLD engages with vulnerable and excluded people
that services generally find it hard to reach.
• Explore the professional learning and training needs of the workforce - including the impact
of national policy on training needs - in more detail, and ask about preferred methods of
professional learning delivery.
• Explore how paid staff support volunteers, and the relationship between the added value of
voluntary action and investment in skilled paid staff.
• Explore perceptions of the extent to which paid staff and volunteers in different sectors think
of themselves as part of a wider CLD workforce and whether such perceptions have any
impact on practice.
• Include a greater focus on the impact of the work done by CLD staff and volunteers on local
and national outcomes.
54 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Appendices
Appendix 1: Questionnaire
Working with Scotland’s Communities
Working with Scotland’s Communities is a research study to find out more about the diverse
range of paid staff and volunteers in Community Learning and Development roles across
Scotland. This online survey is phase one of the study and is aimed at the organisations
and services that employ these staff and volunteers. We are therefore looking for one
response on behalf of your organisation or service please. Before completing the
survey please ensure you have read the guidance available on the Education Scotland
website here.
Who is carrying out the survey?
Education Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, in partnership with Youthlink
Scotland; The Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC); The Workers Educational
Association (WEA); The CLD Standards Council for Scotland; and CLD Managers Scotland.
Who is the survey aimed at?
We want to hear from all community, voluntary or public sector organisations, large or small,
that employ paid staff or volunteers in Community Learning and Development roles. We
know this will include staff and volunteers working in many different settings and roles with
many different job titles including youth workers, adult learning workers, community
development workers amongst others. If you are not sure whether your organisation has
staff in Community Learning and Development roles then please refer to the guidance on the
Education Scotland website.
What does the survey ask about?
The survey contains questions about your organisation or service’s workforce. It should be
completed by someone who has an overview of the workforce or has access to that
information. We estimate that the survey will take around 30 minutes to complete. To
create an accurate picture of the national workforce at a point in time, several questions will
ask for information about the paid staff or volunteers working for you in a particular week the week beginning 23rd February 2015. There is also an opportunity to record other
people who work for you at other times of the year.
What will we do with the findings?
A summary report of survey findings will be published by Education Scotland. Individual
organisations will not be identified. The findings from the survey will be used to establish a
baseline to inform national community learning and development policy and planning and
professional development and training priorities.
Education Scotland is subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act and is required
to release information when requested unless an exemption or other valid reason for refusal
applies. It is our normal practice to consult with third parties before we release information in
which they have an interest, although the final decision lies with Education Scotland in
accordance with the Act. If you consider any of the information that you provide is sensitive,
there is an opportunity for you to indicate this at the end of the survey.
If you would like further information regarding the survey or how the information you provide
55 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
will be used, please contact …
Staff details given in Original
The closing date for the survey is Friday 10th April.
About your organisation or service
* 1. What is the name of your organisation or service?
* 2. What is the postcode for your organisation or service’s head or main office in
Scotland? Please do not use any spaces in your response e.g.G28DU.
* 3. What type of organisation or service are you? Please select ONE option that best
describes your organisation or service from the list below.
o
o
o
Arm’s length organisation or
trust established by a Local
Authority
College
Community
Development
Trust
Faithbased
Housing Association
NHS Board
o
Other (please specify)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Local Authority
Locally Based Voluntary
National
Voluntary
Intermediary
National Voluntary
Other Public Sector
Private Sector
o
o
o
o
o
School
Social Enterprise
Third
sector
interface
Trade Union
University
* 4. What is the MAIN focus of your organisation or service’s work? Please select ONE
option that best describes your organisation or service from the list below.
o
o
o
o
o
Community development and/or community capacity building
Youth work
Adult learning
All of the above
Other (please specify)
56 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 5. What group(s) does your organisation or service work with? Please select all that
apply.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Children
Looked after children
Young people
Young people not in employment,
education or training
Adults not in employment, education or
training
Adults looking for literacy and/or numeracy
learning
Adults whose first language is not English
Workplace learners
Other groups, please specify
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Other adult learners
Older people
Families
Community groups/organisations
Community activists/representatives
Volunteers
We do not define specific groups
We are a support or intermediary
organisation which does not
work directly with specific groups
* 6. Which of the following activities, taken from the Strategic Guidance on
Community Learning and Development to Community Planning Partnerships,
describe the work that your organisation or service does? Please select all that apply.
o Community development and/or community capacity building
o Youth work
o Family learning/other early intervention work with children, young people and families
o Community based adult learning, including adult literacies and ESOL
o Volunteer development
o Working with people who may be viewed as vulnerable or from disadvantaged
communities (e.g. refugees and asylum seekers, people with disabilities, care leavers,
offenders)
o Learning support and guidance within the community
o Other (please specify)
* 7. Where has your organisation or service worked directly with learners or
communities during the last 12 months? Please select all that apply.
o Aberdeen City
o Eilean Siar
o Renfrewshire
o Aberdeenshire
o Falkirk
o Scottish Borders
o Angus
o Fife
o Shetland Islands
o Argyll & Bute
o Glasgow City o South Ayrshire
o Clackmannanshire
o Highland
o South Lanarkshire
o Dumfries & Galloway
o Inverclyde
o Stirling
o Dundee City
o Midlothian
o West Dunbartonshire
o East Ayrshire
o Moray
o West Lothian
o East Dunbartonshire
o North
o Our
organisation/service
has
o East Lothian
Ayrshire
worked directly within all 32 Local
o East Renfrewshire
o North
Authority areas in the last 12
o Edinburgh, City of
Lanarkshire
months
o Orkney
o This question does not apply to our
Islands
organisation or service's work
o Perth
&
Kinross
57 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
About your organisation/service’s paid staff
In this section, please tell us about all PAID staff working for your organisation or service in
Community Learning and Development roles. Please refer to the introduction to find out more
about what we mean by Community Learning and Development roles. Most of the questions
relate to paid staff (full and part time) who were working with your organisation as of the week
beginning 23rd February 2015. There is also an opportunity to tell us about paid staff working
for you at other times of the year. These roles may include direct delivery, management, and/or
support or development work. There is a section later on to provide
information about volunteers.
* 8. How many PAID staff were working for your organisation or service in Community
Learning and Development roles in the week commencing 23rd February 2015? This
figure should include managers, practitioners, professional support functions and
other support functions (e.g. administrative staff). Please do not include vacant posts.
* 9. How many PAID staff does your organisation or service have in Community
Learning and Development roles who were NOT working in the week commencing
23rd February 2015. E.g. seasonal or sessional staff working at other times of the
year. Please enter 0 if this question does not apply.
* 10. Of the number of PAID staff you provided in question 8 above, how many were
working the following hours per week in your organisation or service in the week
commencing 23rd February 2015?
35 hours or above per week
17.5 to 34 hours per week
Up to 17.5 hours per week
*11. Of the number of PAID staff you provided in question 8 above, how many were
primarily engaged in the following roles in your organisation or service in the week
commencing 23rd February 2015? Where an individual was working in more than one
of the roles, please include them in the category that they spend most of their time
working in.
Front line staff – includes all staff who routinely work with learners
and/or communities
Front line managers – includes managers who may be directly
involved in service delivery but who also supervise staff or manage
other aspects of delivery
Senior or strategic managers – includes senior managers or other
managers who are not directly involved in service delivery
Administrative support staff – includes all staff working in
administrative or clerical roles
Professional support staff – includes staff whose role supports
work within the organisation or service such as those whose main
role includes staff training or quality improvement who do not fall
within any of the other categories
58 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
*12. Of the number of PAID staff you provided in question 8 above, how many were
employed on each of the following contract types?
Permanent contract
Fixed term contract – over 12 months
Fixed term contract – 12 months or less
Other contract type (e.g. consultant, freelance etc.)
* 13. We would like to ask whether you feel that the number of PAID staff in
Community Learning and Development roles has increased or decreased over the last
five years. Since 2009/10, has the total number of PAID workers in Community
Learning and Development roles employed by your organisation or service…?
o …Increased
o …Decreased
o …Stayed the same
o …Don’t know
Please explain your answer
Qualifications, professional development and training
In this section, we ask about the qualifications that your staff in Community Learning and
Development roles hold. We also ask about your organisation or service’s professional
development and training priorities. Please tell us about your PAID staff only in this section.
* 14. What type of SPECIFIC Community Learning and Development qualifications
does your organisation or service typically require for the following groups of PAID
staff?
Degreelevel
qualification
(SCQF Level
9) or
above
Management staff
Staff who work
directly
with
learners
or
communities
Staff in support
roles e.g.
administration,
fundraising
HND
(SCQF
Level 8)
HNC
(SCQF
Level 7)
Professional
Development
Award
accredited
by the SQA
(from SCQF
Level 6)
Other type
of
qualification
e.g.
from
inhouse
training
Not
applicable
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
59 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 15. What type of NON Community Learning and Development qualifications does
your organisation or service typically require for the following groups of PAID staff?
Degreelevel
qualification
(SCQF
Level 9) or
above
Management
staff
Staff
who
work directly
with learners
or
communities
Staff
in
support roles
e.g.
administration,
fundraising
HND
(SCQF
Level 8)
HNC
(SCQF
Level 7)
Professional
Development
Award
accredited
by the SQA
(from SCQF
Level 6)
Other type
of
qualification
e.g.
from
inhouse
training
Not
applicable
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
* 16. Please tell us about how your organisation or service gathers and uses information about
professional/workforce development for your PAID staff.
Not
Yes
No
Applicable
My organisation/service regularly gathers information about the
professional development and training needs of our staff (e.g. through
o
o
o
surveys or a performance appraisal).
My organisation/service
development plan.
has
a
written
professional/workforce
Our staff are expected to have personal learning or development
plans.
o
o
o
o
o
o
* 17. Do you assess what impact professional development and training activities
have on the practice of your PAID staff?
o
o
Yes
No
Please explain your answer
60 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 18. What is the source, if any, of your organisation or service's funding for
professional development/training? Please select all that apply.
o We do not have access to this type of funding
o Your organisation/service’s core budget
o Local external funding (e.g. Community Planning Partnerships, Local Authorities)
o Scottish Government external funding
o Other national external funding (e.g. Big Lottery)
o Other (please specify)
* 19. Since 2009/10, do you think that your training and professional development
budget (both core and additional funding if applicable) has…
…Increased …Decreased …Stayed the same …Don’t know
Core budget
o
o
o
o
Additional grants or
o
o
o
o
awards
Please explain your answer
* 20. What types of training and professional development have you supported for
your PAID staff in the last 12 months? Please select all that apply.
o Online learning – no
o Research/personal study
o FE courses
financial
o Attendance
at
o HE courses
o commitment
conferences
o Other
recognised
o Online
learning
–
o Internal
qualifications
organisational
mentoring/buddying
o Team learning
subscription
o External
o Action learning sets
o Attendance at external
coaching/mentoring
o Practitioner Networks
courses
o Secondments for staff
o None of the above
o Attendance at inhouse
o Cross sector training
o courses
o Shadowing/internships
o Other (please specify)
61 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 21. What types of LEADERSHIP development have you supported for your PAID staff
in the last 12 months? Please select all that apply.
o Online learning – no o Research/personal study o FE courses
financial
o Attendance
at o HE courses
o commitment
conferences
o Other
recognised
o Online
learning
– o Internal
qualifications
organisational
mentoring/buddying
o Team learning
o subscription
o External
o Action learning sets
o Attendance at external
coaching/mentoring
o Practitioner Networks
courses
o Secondments for staff
o None of the above
o Attendance at inhouse
o Cross sector training
courses
o Shadowing/internships
o Other (please specify)
* 22. What are your main priorities for the professional development or training of
your PAID staff in the next 12 months?
* 23. Are there any identified professional development or training needs for your
PAID staff that your organisation or service will NOT be able to address over the next
12 months, although you have identified a need for it?
o Yes
o No
Please explian your answer
* 24. In the last 12 months, has your organisation or service supported placement
opportunities in any of the following ways?
Yes
Work experience placements for school aged young people
Placements for students on degree level Community Learning and
Development courses
Placements for students on other higher or further education courses
Other types of placements
No
Not sure
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
If you have selected 'other types of placements' above please explain your answer.
62 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
About your organisation/service’s volunteer workforce
In this section, please tell us about VOLUNTEERS working with your organisation or service in
Community Learning and Development roles. Most of the questions relate to the volunteers
registered with your organisation or service as of the week beginning 23rd February 2015.
There is an opportunity to tell us about volunteers who worked at other times of the year.
These may be regular or occasional volunteers who may be delivering, supporting or advising
or managing Community Learning and Development activity.
*25. Does your organisation or service use volunteers in Community Learning and
Development roles?
o Yes
o No
* 26. Please tell us more about which activities are carried out by VOLUNTEERS in
your organisation or service. Please select all that apply.
o Face to face work with learners or communities
o Support work e.g. administration, fundraising
o Committee, board or governance work
o Other – please specify
* 27. How many VOLUNTEERS were working in your organisation or service in the
week commencing 23rd February 2015?
* 28. How many VOLUNTEERS does your organisation or service employ who were
NOT working in the week commencing 23rd February 2015. E.g. seasonal or sessional
volunteers who were working at other times of the year. Please enter 0 if this question
does not apply.
* 29. Of the number of VOLUNTEERS you provided in question 27 above, how many
were primarily engaged in the following types of work in your organisation or service
in the week commencing 23rd February 2015? Where an individual was involved in
more than one of the types of work, please include them in the category that they
spend most of their time working in.
Face to face work with learners or communities
Support work e.g. administration, fundraising
Committee, board or governance work
Other
* 30. In a typical week, what is the total number of hours worked by all VOLUNTEERS
in your organisation or service?
63 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 31. What type of qualifications does your organisation or service typically
following groups of VOLUNTEER staff?
Professional
Development
Degreelevel
Award
qualification
accredited
(SCQF Level
by the SQA
9) or
HND (SCQF HNC (SCQF (from
SCQF
above
Level 8)
Level 7)
Level 6)
Volunteers
involved in
committee,
o
o
o
o
board or
governance
work
Volunteers
involved in
face to face
o
o
o
o
work with
learners
or
communities
Volunteers
involved in
support work
o
o
o
o
e.g.
administration,
fundraising
Volunteers
doing other
work (if you
o
o
o
o
have
noted
this
in
question 26)
require for the
Other type of
qualification
e.g.
from
inhouse
training
o
o
o
o
* 32. We would like to ask whether you feel that the number of VOLUNTEERS has
increased or decreased over the last five years. Since 2009/10, has the total number of
VOLUNTEERS used by your organisation or service…?
…Increased
…Decreased
…Stayed the same
…Don’t know
Please explain your answer
64 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 33. iDevelop is a national webbased framework to support creative and innovative
learning and development for Community Learning and Development practitioners in
Scotland. Does your organisation or service encourage and promote the use of
iDevelop (e.g. has an iDevelop champion or local group on iDevelop)?
o Yes
o No
o Not heard of iDevelop
o Not sure
Please provide any further detail about how your organisation or service uses or views
iDevelop.
* 34. Glow is the nationwide online environment for learning. Does your organisation
or service encourage and promote the use of Glow (e.g. Staff are registered with
Glow)?
o Yes
o No
o Not heard of Glow
o Not sure
Please provide any further detail about how your organisation or service uses or views Glow.
* 35. In 2013, the Scottish Government reinforced its ambitions for Community
Learning and Development by putting in place statutory Regulations for Community
Learning and Development (Scotland). The Regulations place duties on local
authorities to work with partners and communities to audit need for Community
Learning and Development, and consult and plan for Community Learning and
Development at local level. Is your organisation or service currently involved in work
relating to the Regulations?
o Yes
o No
o Don't know
Please explain your answer.
65 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
* 36. If you consider that any information you have provided in the survey is
potentially sensitive, please use the space below to tell us what this information is
and why you consider it to be sensitive.
* 37. All partners would like to thank you for completing the survey. If would like us to
contact you to tell you more about the findings of the survey, please tick the box
below and give us a suitable contact email address. In addition, please tick the
appropriate boxes if you would like to be contacted by any of the partner
organisations in relation to their work.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
I would like to hear more about the survey findings
CLD Managers Scotland
Education Scotland
Scottish Community Development Centre
The CLD Standards Council for Scotland
The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) Scotland
Youthlink Scotland
Email address
66 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Appendix 2: Survey Guidance
This guidance is designed to help you to complete the Working With Scotland’s Communities
survey on behalf of your organisation or service.
Section 1:
Section 2:
Gives information about the survey that is worth reading before you start.
Gives further guidance on some specific questions which you may wish to refer to
as you go through the survey.
Section 1: About Working With Scotland’s Communities
1.
Introduction
Working with Scotland’s Communities is a research study to find out more about the diverse
range of paid staff and volunteers in community learning and development roles across
Scotland. This online survey is phase one of the study and is aimed at the organisations and
services rather than individuals. We are looking for one response on behalf of your
organisation or service.
The survey will go live on:
The closing date for survey responses will be 5pm on:
Monday February 23rd 2015
Friday April 10th, 2015
You can download a PDF version of the survey questions on this page.
2.
Who is carrying out this survey?
The survey is being carried out by Education Scotland in partnership with Youthlink Scotland;
The Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC); The Workers Educational Association
(WEA); The CLD Standards Council for Scotland; and CLD Managers Scotland.
3.
Why are we carrying out this survey?
There is an increasing importance being placed on community learning and development’s
contribution to a range of national and local policy areas in Scotland – for example Curriculum
for Excellence, employability, community empowerment, and health and wellbeing. In 2013,
new Statutory Regulations on Community Learning and Development were put in place by the
Scottish Government. This has highlighted the need for better national information about who
delivers community learning and development on the ground. The last national survey like this
was carried out more than 5 years ago and we know that there have been many changes in that
period.
4.
What do we want to find out?
We want to know more about the current community learning and development workforce in
Scotland in the community, voluntary and public sectors.
The term community learning and development (CLD) is used in Scotland to describe a wide
range of learning and development work with individuals and groups of all ages in their
communities using both formal and informal methods. We know that these staff and volunteers
work in many different settings and have many different job roles and job titles, including youth
workers, adult learning workers and community development workers. What they have in
67 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
common are clear shared values and approaches and a common aim to empower young
people or adults, individually or collectively, to make positive changes in their lives and in their
communities.
5.
Should my organisation or service respond to this survey?
If your organisation has any staff in community learning and development roles then please
respond to this survey. We want to get feedback from organisations – large and small - in all
sectors and in all areas of the country.
If community learning and development is not the only purpose of your organisation, we still
want to hear from you. It may be that:
• The survey may be relevant to only some of your staff or volunteers. If so, then complete the
survey for those staff only.
or
• Community learning and development activity might constitute just part of the remit of your
staff or volunteers. If so, then please count all of these staff in Question 8 and estimate how
many hours they spend on CLD in Question 10.
If you’re still not sure whether your organisation should respond then please look at the
questions in Box 1 below which may help you to decide. Box 2 sets out the current national
CLD policies for reference.
6.
What will we do with the survey findings?
The results of the survey will help to build an up to date national picture of who is working with
Scotland’s communities. This picture will be used to:
• Inform national community learning and development policy and planning
• Inform national professional development priorities
• Establish a baseline against which future workforce trends can be measured.
7.
Who do we mean by ‘staff in community learning and development roles’?
We want to know more about your staff in community learning and development roles. We
mean all paid staff and volunteers in your organisation who:
1. Work in ways that reflect
competences and ethics.
the
national community
learning
and
development
2. Undertake one or more of the following types of work:
• community development and/or community capacity building
•
youth work
•
family learning and other early intervention work with children, young people and
families;
•
community-based adult learning, including adult literacies and English for speakers of
other languages (ESOL);
68 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
•
volunteer development;
•
learning for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the community, for example, people
with disabilities, care leavers or offenders;
•
learning support and guidance in the community.
3. May or may not have the term ‘community learning and development’ in their job title.
4. May focus on direct delivery, management, or support and development roles.
Examples of job titles of staff with community learning and development roles
A worker in a CLD role may or may not have the term ‘community learning and development’ in
their job title and may focus on direct delivery, management, or support or development roles.
Here are just some examples of the various job titles for staff with CLD roles – and this is not a
definitive list:
Development Worker/Officer/Manager
Project Worker/Officer/Manager
Community learning and development Worker/Officer/Manager
Youth Worker/Officer/Manager
Youth Development Worker/Officer/Manager
Community Worker/Organiser/Officer/Manager
Community Development Worker/Organiser/Officer/Manager
Community Engagement Worker/Organiser/Officer/Manager
Adult Learning Worker/Organiser/Officer/Manager
Lifelong Learning Worker/Officer/Manager
Home – School Worker/Officer/Manager
Adult Literacies Worker/Officer/Manager
69 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
8.
Who should complete the survey in my organisation?
This survey is aimed at organisations rather than individual members of staff. To avoid
duplication in the results, please make sure that only one return is submitted for your
organisation or service.
The survey should be completed by someone within your organisation that has a good overview
of the staff in community learning and development roles. Some of the questions may require
information that is held by the people responsible for human resources (HR) and/or training and
development within your organisation.
If your service is one part of a larger organisation then clearly state the name of your service
and the larger organisation in Question One.
For local authorities where the CLD functions are spread across more than one service, you
may find it easier to submit more than one response – i.e. one from each relevant service rather
than one overall return for the local authority. If you do this though, please make sure that
all of the relevant services in your authority have access to the survey.
9.
What does the survey cover?
The survey asks questions about: what your organisation does; the number of paid staff and
volunteers with community learning and development roles that it employs; and about
professional development and training.
10.
How long will it take to complete?
We estimate that it will take around 30 minutes to complete the online survey. However you
may also need to speak to other colleagues in your organisation beforehand to get some of the
information asked for. We suggest that you look through all of the questions before completing
the online survey. A printable copy of the survey questions is available on the Education
Scotland webpage.
11.
Would you like us to pass the survey link on to partner organisations?
Yes please! We are keen to reach the widest possible range of organisations and services –
large and small. The survey link is being distributed through the networks of Education
Scotland, Youthlink, SCDC, WEA, Learning Link, The CLD Standards Council and CLD
Managers Scotland. However if you know of organisations with staff or volunteers in CLD roles
who you think may not be reached by us then please let them know or direct them to the
Education Scotland website:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/communitylearninganddevelopment/professionallearning/c
ldworkforce/index.asp
12.
How can I find out more?
To find out more about any of the questions asked in this survey, please contact:
Details provided in original guidance…
70 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Box 1: Is this survey aimed at my organisation or service?
If you are not sure whether this survey is aimed at your organisation then the following
questions may help you to decide:
Q1.
Do the following National CLD Competencies describe how some or all of your staff
work?
• Know and understand the community in which we work
• Build and maintain relationships with individuals and groups
• Provide learning and development opportunities in a range of contexts
• Facilitate and promote community empowerment
• Organise and manage resources
• Develop and support collaborative working
• Evaluate and inform practice
Yes
Q2.
Partly
Not sure
Do one or more of the following activities describe the work that some or all of your
staff do?
• Community development and community capacity building
• Youth work
• Family learning or other early intervention work with children, young people &
families
• Community-based adult learning, including adult literacies or English for speakers
of other languages (ESOL)
• Volunteer development
• Learning for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in the community, for example,
people with disabilities, care leavers or offenders
• Learning support and guidance in the community
Yes
Q3.
No
No
Partly
Not sure
Do any of these descriptions fit your organisation or service?
• Local community project or organisation
• Voluntary sector organisation publicly funded to deliver community learning and/or
community development
• Service in a local authorities, arm’s length organisations or trust, or government
body with an identified CLD remit
• Social enterprise or community development trust
• Organisation involved in community health, housing, social enterprise, anti-poverty
work, equalities or sustainable development;
• Other public service organisation such as colleges and universities, the NHS and
Skills Development Scotland;
• National development or support organisation
Yes
No
Not sure
71 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Q4.
Do the following values inform some or all or your staff do?
• Partnership - ensuring resources, varied skills and capabilities are used effectively
• Participation - supporting people to take part in decision-making
• Inclusion, equality of opportunity and anti-discrimination - recognising some
people need additional support to overcome the barriers they face
• Self-determination - supporting the right of people to make their own choices
• Empowerment - increasing the ability of individuals and groups to influence
matters affecting them and their communities
Yes
No
Partly
Not sure
If you can answer Yes to more than one of these questions then please complete the
survey.
Box 2: Community learning and development in national policy
The key national policy from the Scottish Government is Strategic Guidance for Community
Planning Partnerships: Community Learning and Development (Scottish Government, 2012) the
Guidance states that:
‘CLD is a coherent and distinctive set of practices, defined by clearly identified competences; it
is delivered in diverse settings and sectors, by practitioners with a wide variety of job titles,
working with people of all ages. We must link all this together effectively if we are to achieve the
impact that we seek.’
‘Community learning and development (CLD) plays a central part in ensuring individuals,
families and communities across Scotland reach their potential through lifelong learning, mutual
self-help and community organisation - and that the available support and opportunities are
community-led, built around people's aspirations.’
‘CLD's specific focus should be:
1. Improved life chances for people of all ages, including young people in particular, through
learning, personal development and active citizenship
2. Stronger, more resilient, supportive, influential and inclusive communities’
• The Scottish Government has also brought new Community learning and development
Regulations (2013) into law to help communities get access to the CLD support that they
need.
•
'Our ambitions for improving the life chances of young people in Scotland' National Youth
Work Strategy (2014)
•
The Adult Learning Statement of Ambition for Scotland (2014)
72 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Section 2:
Further guidance on some of the specific survey questions
NOTE: Please use numbers (i.e. not written text) in all questions where they are asked
for.
Question 1: What is the name of your organisation or service?
If your service is one part of a larger organisation, then please include both your service and
organisation name.
Question 3: What type of organisation or service are you?
Please tick one box only that best describes your organisation or service. The options are in
alphabetical order.
Question 4: What is the MAIN focus of your organisation or service’s work?
The purpose of this question is to help us to break down the final findings into these categories.
The categories are generic terms so your staff might not have any of them in their job actual
titles but please choose the one that you think best reflects what your organisation does. Only
use the ‘Other’ response if you really feel that the generic terms are not relevant to your
organisation or service.
Question 5: What groups do your staff work with?
We know that staff in CLD roles work with a wide range of different groups so this will not be an
exhaustive list. Please use the ‘Other’ box to add target groups not included in the options.
Question 6: Which of the following activities, taken from the Strategic Guidance on
Community Learning and Development to Community Planning Partnerships, describe
the work that your organisation or service does?
The options given here are the means for effective delivery of CLD outcomes taken from the
Scottish Government’s Strategic Guidance on CLD (2012)
Question 7: Where has your organisation or service worked directly with learners or
communities during the last 12 months?
The options given are local authority areas. If your work covers more than one local authority
area then please tick all that apply. If you are a national organisation that doesn’t work in
specific geographical areas then this question may not be applicable.
Question 8: How many PAID staff were working for your organisation or service in
Community Learning and Development roles in the week commencing 23rd February
2015?
This question asks about your paid staff. To create an accurate picture of the national
workforce at a point in time, this question asks for information about the paid staff (full time and
part-time) or volunteers working for you in that particular week. Please include all staff in CLD
roles who are employed by your organisation as of that week – including those who were on
leave or absent for any reason. Also include any sessional or occasional staff employed by you
but who did not work during that week. Please do not include posts that were vacant in that
week.
73 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
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Community learning and development activity might constitute just part of the remit of your staff
or volunteers. If so, then please count all of these staff in Question 8 and estimate how many
hours they spend on CLD in Question 10.
Question 9: How many PAID staff does your organisation or service have in Community
Learning and Development roles who were NOT working in the week commencing 23rd
February 2015.
This is an opportunity to record any other seasonal or occasional staff who are only employed
by you at other times of the year. (eg staff employed for summer holiday or other seasonal
programmes.)
Question 10. Of the number of PAID staff you provided in question 8 above, how many
were working the following hours per week in your organisation or service in the week
commencing 23rd February 2015?
This question aims to find out the numbers of paid staff in CLD roles who work full–time and the
number who work part-time. If some of your full time staff spend only part of their working week
doing CLD activity, then only include the time spent on CLD activity in your answer.
Question 11. Of the number of PAID staff you provided in question 8 above, how many
were primarily engaged in the following roles in your organisation or service in the week
commencing 23rd February 2015?
We appreciate that this question may be complex for some organisations because some staff
may carry out more than one role. Where an individual was working in more than one of the
roles, please include them in the category that they spend most of their time working in.
Question 13. We would like to ask whether you feel that the number of PAID staff in
Community Learning and Development roles has increased or decreased over the last
five years.
We are asking for your perception only here - based on your knowledge of your own
organisation.
Question 14. What type of SPECIFIC Community Learning and Development
qualifications does your organisation or service typically require for the following groups
of PAID staff?
We would like to know what level of qualification you require your staff to hold. The best source
of information about CLD-specific qualifications is the CLD Standards Council Approved
Training programmes list: http://cldstandardscouncil.org.uk/?page_id=350 This is not an
exhaustive list though. There are some CLD-specific qualifications that haven’t been through
The Standards Council approval process yet.
If you have no qualification requirements then this question will not be applicable.
74 | Working with Scotland’s Communities – A survey of who does community learning
and development.
Question 15. What type of NON Community Learning and Development qualifications
does your organisation or service typically require for the following groups of PAID
staff?
We would like to get an indication of the range of other qualifications that staff in CLD roles
have. Examples of other qualifications might include: arts, culture, health, economic
development etc. If you have no such requirements then this question will not be applicable.
Question 17: Do you assess what impact professional development and training
activities have on the practice of your staff?
Whether you answer yes or no to this question, a brief explanation would be helpful.
Question 18-20 ask about funding for professional development or training. We realise that
questions about funding can be sensitive so we have not asked for specific figures and - as with
all other questions in the survey - we will not identify your organisation’s individual response to
these questions.
Question 20: Since 2009/10, do you think that your training and professional
development budget (both core and additional funding if applicable) has…?
Again, we are asking for your perception here - based on your knowledge of your own
organisation.
Question 22. What types of LEADERSHIP development have you supported for your staff
in the last 12 months?
We are keen to get an indication of what support the CLD sector provides to develop leadership
skills. If you do not provide specific leadership support then this question will not be applicable.
Question 23. What are your main priorities for the professional development or training
of your PAID staff in the next 12 months?
Please try to answer this question. Brief answers or bullet points are fine.
Question 24. Are there any identified professional development or training needs for
your PAID staff that your organisation or service will NOT be able to address over the
next 12 months, although you have identified a need for it?
For example, are there professional development or training needs that your organisation will
not be able to meet this year due to time, capacity or budget restrictions? Individual answers to
this question will not be identified in the feedback.
Question 26. Does your organisation or service use volunteers in community learning
and development roles?
Please only tell us about volunteers in CLD roles. Please include volunteers in front line roles
and/or those in support or management roles. Q. 27 will ask you to break these down into
categories.
Question 27. Please tell us more about the activities carried out by your volunteers, and
how regularly they carry out these activities.
We know that this is not an exhaustive list of volunteer roles. Please use the ‘Other’ box to add
target groups not included in the options.
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and development.
Question 28: How many VOLUNTEERS were working in your organisation or service in
the week commencing 23rd February 2015?
Like Q8 on paid staff we are looking to get a picture of the number of volunteers at a point in
time.
Question 29. How many VOLUNTEERS does your organisation or service employ who
were NOT working in the week commencing 23rd February 2015.
This question provides an opportunity to record other volunteers in CLD roles who did not work
during this week (e.g. seasonal volunteers).
Question 31. In a typical week, what is the total number of hours worked by all
VOLUNTEERS in your organisation or service?
If it is difficult to give a precise figure here, please provide an estimate.
Question 34: Does your organisation or service encourage and promote the use of
iDevelop?
This is iDevelop: http://www.i-develop-cld.org.uk
Question 35: Does your organisation or service encourage and promote the use of
Glow?
Here is information about GLOW:
www.educationscotland.gov.uk/usingglowandict/glow/index.asp
Question 36: Is your organisation or service currently involved in work relating to the
Regulations?
Here is more information about the CLD Regulations:
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/communitylearninganddevelopment/about/policy/regulatio
ns.asp
The main duties in the Regulations are placed on local authorities but part of those duties are to
work with partners and communities so this question is not only aimed at local authorities.
Again, we will not identify responses to this question from individual organisations.
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Appendix 3: Organisational groupings
Types of organisation categorised within the 3 high-level organisational groupings (local
authority, third sector and other).
Local
Authority
Third Sector
Other
Local Authority departments
Arms’ length organisations
Local authority-third sector partnerships
Joint venture between LA and NHS
Locally based voluntary
National voluntary
3rd sector interface
Community development trust
National voluntary intermediary
Social Enterprise
Faith Based
Charity
Sport’s governing body
Independent youth organisation
Community group
Collective of disabled people
Faith based
MOD sponsored voluntary agency
Youth club
College
Other public Sector
University
Private Sector
School
Integrated health and care partnership NHS
Executive Agency of Scottish Government (ES)
NHS board
Self-employed
Individual
Fire and rescue
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Appendix 4: Professional learning priorities – Word Cloud
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and development.
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